G.I. JOE 3 to be Written by Jonathan Lemkin

News has been relatively quiet on Paramount’s G.I. Joe 3 lately, but now that the studio has brought screenwriter Jonathan Lemkin on board to pen the script, things should start moving right along. The last we heard from producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, they were in early talks with directors for the threequel and were negotiating with a writer to lock down the story. Plot details are vague, but it’s expected to center on Dwayne Johnson’s character, Roadblock. Adrianne Palicki and most of the cast of G.I. Joe: Retaliation are also expected to return. Hit the jump for more on G.I. Joe 3.

Variety reports that Lemkin has signed on to pen Paramount’s G.I. Joe 3. The screenwriter has previously worked with di Bonaventura on 2007’s Shooter starring Mark Wahlberg, and the two crossed paths at Warner Bros. where Lemkin wrote Devil’s Advocate and Lethal Weapon 4. Now that a writer is in place, a late first quarter/early second quarter of 2015 production start date sounds feasible.

Here’s what di Bonaventura had to say about focusing the plot of G.I. Joe 3 on Roadblock:

“It’s interesting, it’s sort of an open possibility right now who could be in it outside of Dwayne [Johnson], he has to be in it. The last movie was really the set up, in a way, for Roadblock to take over. Dwayne came aboard a little late last time so we weren’t able to do everything I think we can do this time, and really get a story that services what the audience expects out of him, and also as an actor pushes him into areas that you wouldn’t normally explore in a big franchise movie perhaps. We have not talked about any other cast or anything, because we really need a story to be completely signed off by everybody.”